COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For Daniela Ivana, adventure was something to be tackled both on and off the tennis courts. As a native of Bucharest, Romania, Ivana seized an opportunity to leave her mark on the game of women’s tennis by accepting an opportunity to play at the University of Southern Colorado, which is now known as Colorado State University Pueblo. With opportunity on her mind, Ivana departed her native country and embarked on a journey to the United States that would end in an illustrious and award-winning career with the ThunderWolves.
Ivana wasted no time making an impact within the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the ThunderWolves, bursting onto the women’s tennis scene with conference championships at the No. 1 singles and doubles positions as a freshman. Playing at the No. 1 position in singles or doubles is already an impressive feat; however, competing at both and earning conference titles along the way foreshadowed a career that would stand the test of time for the Romanian. In her first year at the university, she helped The Pack claim a conference team championship with 75 points in the final standings, earning a trip to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament.
With the bar set high, Ivana entered her sophomore season with momentum and surpassed the standard she set as a freshman. In her second season at Southern Colorado, she claimed a variety of RMAC awards, including another all-conference first team nod, a Phillip 66 Academic Award and the first of her three conference Player of the Year honors.
In her final two seasons, she swept the RMAC Player of the Year award along with two more all-conference first team accolades while helping the ThunderWolves to two more team conference championships in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. In her senior campaign, she dropped just one match and pushed The Pack to an appearance in the round of 16 at the NCAA DII Championship, where Southern Colorado narrowly fell to California Davis.
Ivana closed her career at Southern Colorado as a two-time All-American, leading The Pack to RMAC titles in three of her four seasons. She was named to the RMAC All-Century Team as the league’s All-Time Women’s Tennis Player. Since completing her career at Southern Colorado, Ivana has returned to Romania, where she currently resides.
Following her distinguished career with the ThunderWolves, and since being named to the RMAC All-Century Team, Ivana will now be inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame as part of the 2022 class. She is joined by five other individuals and one team in this year’s induction class. In addition to this year’s induction class, the league will also be honoring RMAC student-athletes, coaches and teams for achievements throughout the 2021-22 academic year.
The 2022 RMAC Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet will be hosted at the Colorado Springs Marriott on Friday, July 15. Doors will open for the event at 5 p.m. MT, while the banquet is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Tickets for this year’s RMAC Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet are available for purchase and can be found
here or can be purchased at the door with credit card or cash only. Adult tickets can be purchased for $75, while tickets for children 12 or younger can be purchased for $30. Tables for 10 may also be purchased for $600. Included in the price of each ticket is a dinner with options ranging from beef, chicken or vegetarian plates.